


Silence and Warmth

by Lizziedediction



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur's POV, Blink And You Miss It Slash, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Episode: s05e13 The Diamond of the Day, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 08:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12317115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizziedediction/pseuds/Lizziedediction
Summary: Arthur knows that there is no hope for him. He is going to die. He is only too happy to give his last moments to the man who needs him the most.





	Silence and Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic to be posted online. I'm not certain if my writing totally sucks or if it is not complete trash so I will stick to short, canon fics for the time being. I will appreciate any criticism and please tell me if there are any mistakes. I usually ship Merthur hard but this scene would be ruined by any last minute confessions of love. They know how each other feels.

"Goodbye, Morgana."

Arthur could not see Morgana's frozen face nor hear the sound of the overdue farewell. His gaze was fixed on a corpse of his own flesh. Breaths of the living were choked by the silence of death's calls. He saw his own face staring blankly into the sky. He saw his own eyes glaze over. He saw his own body cease it's spasms of breath. He saw his own death in his sister's downfall. Not even Merlin, with all his power, can stop what is meant to be, what is right. And they both were to blame.

Suddenly, Arthur was leaning heavily against Merlin. He could hear the sounds of the wood again, pulling him back from his lack of sight to a bigger world of action. A world that he will no longer be apart of. "You've brought peace at last," seemed like the only appropriate response to Morgana's defeat, but what did he know of peace?

Merlin only acknowledged his words with an occupied grunt of "Arthur" as he tugged him along. It was too funny. They deserved each other. Merlin, with his stupidly loyal, stupidly powerful self, couldn't consider a better solution to their lack of horses than dragging his stupidly blind king the rest of the way to the magical lake.

The sword that was driven into his sister that had been tightly grasped within his gloved hand grew heavier, and it wasn't only the weight of sword, or his armor, that was dragging him down, but his own duty. His duty to Merlin.

The "Come on. We have to make it to the lake" is what finally drives Arthur to collapse over his friend to pull him down to the ground with him. There is no longer any reason to try to move forward, there is only now to give. And so help him, Arthur was going to give everything he had to Merlin in his last moments. It was his duty, and his privilege.

Merlin still tried to coax Arthur up, using his emotionally drained body to push against the earth. To push Arthur away from her greedy hands. To deny her payment for Arthur's crimes.

In attempt to placate him, Arthur huffed out, "Merlin...not without the horses. We can't, it's too late. It's too late."

The world was too loud now. The ever expanding noise reaching its climax as Arthur felt his heart and his lungs work harder to gift him these last moments. This was going to be his death, and his thoughts were being overpowered by his damn pain.

"No."

He didn't need to hear Merlin, he knew what he said.

"All your magic, Merlin, can't save my life." They knew this, with all their stupidity, they knew this.

But Merlin denied the truth again, "I can. I'm not going to lose you." Arthur patted his hand as Merlin tried to stand them up. He understood. He didn't want to go without Merlin.

Merlin would see him off though. Merlin would stay with him as long as he could. "Just, just hold me. Please." At this Merlin listened.

Arthur abruptly couldn't find the words to convey all he needed them to, "There's something I want to say-".

"You're not going to say goodbye."

"No, Merlin...Everything you've done. I know now. For me, for Camelot. For the kingdom you helped me build..." there must be a way to say it.

"You'd have done it without me."

Arthur could no longer hear his own words, "Maybe. I want to say...something I've never said to you before..." this must be his greatest moment. It was too loud for an empty, forest. Every living creature must have came to watch his greatest act. No other explanation could make sense of this suffocating noise.

He looked upwards, he had been too occupied lately for these last short years to actually _look_. Merlin was always there, but now he could see him. The power and the strength that were always surrounding his demeanor had fallen away to reveal the most devoted and loving gaze that was ever bestowed upon Arthur.

He would not wish to know any other death than this one. This one where Merlin looked back at him in sadness, but was with him.

All noise disappeared again. It was death calling. The silence. As it had called his sister, it was calling him. Giving him the sweet relief of calm and acceptance.

As if his wounds were not felt, he relaxed into the arms of his greatest friend without tensing in pain. As if the world existed only in this single moment, he thought not of a past or a future, but of what he now saw. As if he were being tested, he watched his words with as much care as he had the strength to do so. He spoke only the truth.

"Thank you."

Arthur reached a hand out to comfort Merlin as he had comforted him in these short years. He could not feel his dark hair through his gloves, but he felt the warmth of his skin, and of his gaze, and of his smell, drawing out his awareness just the slightest bit longer. Then all ceased

 

 

within Merlin's warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, please tell me what you think and what would improve my writing style. Thank you for reading!


End file.
